Ireland’s record races on as England fail to cause upset
- Updated: 01/02/2025
By Aidan Corr
in Aviva Stadium
Ireland 27 England 22
THIS opening Guinness Six Nations game in Dublin looked like it was going to finish with a surprise result for England. With eight minutes played, they jumped into a 7-0 lead thanks to a try by Cadan Murley after some slick backline passing. Smith added the conversion and England had their tails up. Ireland responded but it was after a series of attacks on their opponents 22 and a disallowed touchdown by Ronan Kelleher. England continued to attack every time they got possession and it was the home side who were defending for most of the first 20 minutes. Tadhg Beirne (pictured) forced a turnover that raised the atmosphere in the stadium, Fin Smith was sent to the bin but still the home side could not break down the England defence.
Twice in succession the home pack conceded penalties near the try line and going into the last ten minutes of the half, Ireland needed a score. They turned down penalty chances four times during the 33 minutes and each time they failed to register on the scoresheet, but on 34 minutes Gibson-Park lifted the mood in the Aviva, out-foxing the English rearguard to score, but Prendergast sent the easy looking conversion wide of the posts. On the stroke of half time England were awarded a penalty and Marcus Smith obliged to send the teams in at the break, Ireland 5, England 10.
It is certain that the atmosphere in the Irish dressing room was heated because they looked a different side in the second 40 minutes. Tries by Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne and Dan Sheehan turned the tide and although England got two late tries to grab a losing bonus point, Ireland maintain their good run while Steve Borthwick has to suffer his seventh defeat in nine outings. Next up for the Irish is a visit to Edinburgh next week to take on Scotland who had a win over Italy earlier today.
Commenting after the match, Simon Easterby said: “We have reflected, as coaches, on parts of our game that we felt like we could get better at and maybe where we didn’t quite get right in the autumn. And the good thing is we have also had really good feedback from players, the leadership group in particular, who were reflecting in the same way.”
England coach Steve Borthwick: “I think you saw Ireland’s attack on the opposition breakdown – you see the same thing with Leinster. What’ll be interesting is how that is officiated. World Rugby talked last week about some factors of how they want that officiated and making sure it’s legal and within the laws.”
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham; James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Thomas Clarkson, Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Robbie Henshaw.
England: Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Cadan Murley; Marcus Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart; Maro Itoje (capt), George Martin; Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Theo Dan, Fin Baxter, Joe Heyes, Ollie Chessum, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Willis, Harry Randall, Fin Smith.
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)
ARs: James Doleman (NZ) & Hollie Davidson (Sco)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZ)
FPRO: Richard Kelly (NZ)
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